What is a Target?

Bandwidth Monitors monitor the network through (upload and download) of a device or interface.

Connection Quality monitors the latency to a hop or specific host on the Internet, allowing you to see the latency between you and that endpoint.

You can configure and monitor as many Targets as you wish.

Bandwidth

Search for Devices

Search for Devices in the Configuration Assistant makes it as easy as possible to find compatible devices on your network.

PeakHour will automatically show UPnP-enabled routers that are found. If your router does not show up, check your router to ensure UPnP or "Universal Plug and Play" is enabled. If you're still having trouble, see our UPnP Troubleshooting guide.

SNMP devices do not automatically advertise their presence. To add an SNMP device, you can either enter it's name or IP address manually via the Add SNMP Device...button or you can use the Scan for SNMP Devices option to actively search your network.

Verify settings

The Validation screen analyses the configuration and attempts to show a real-time view of bandwidth throughput.

The following describes the what the analysis means:

Responding to queries

Whether or not the device is responding to (SNMP or UPnP) queries and returning meaningful responses.

Reporting bandwidth

Whether or not the device appears to be reporting bandwidth correctly. This will be Yes if PeakHour can see that the device / interface is reporting traffic moving through the device. Note that this can be Yes but the device or interface may not report bandwidth correctly. In order to ensure whats being reported matches up with what you expect, we recommend a test by either downloading a file of a known size or using a site like speedtest.net

High Capacity Counters (SNMP only)

If this is Yes, the interface supports High Capacity (64-bit) counters. See High Capacity Counters for more information.

If the graph appears to be showing throughput as you'd expect, click Next.

Finalise

The last screen in the Configuration Assistant lets you set a few important parameters:

Description

The name or description you wish to associate with this target.

Hide if unreachable

Only show this target if it can be seen and monitored by PeakHour.

Swap inbound and outbound data

Some devices may report uploaded data as downloaded data and vice-versa. Check this box to swap download and upload data around.

Display: Graph+Details View vs. Details Only view

Graph+Details means the target is shown with a graph in the main display. Details only means that only a summary is displayed.

Show in Menu

Show this target's details (current upload/download speed and minigraph) in the menu bar.

Once you're done, click Finish.

You should now see PeakHour running the menu bar, showing upload and download bandwidth:

Click on it to open the main PeakHour window and see a detailed real-time graph:

Connection Quality

Connection Quality monitoring allows you to monitor the quality or latency of your Internet connection or to a specific site on the Internet (e.g. NetFlix).

Adding a new Connection Quality monitor allows you to choose which point on the Internet to monitor. You can set up multiple Connection Quality monitors to monitor different points on the Internet (e.g. NetFlix or your VPN connection to work).

Internet Connection

This option sets up a monitor for your Internet connection. PeakHour assumes the other side of your Internet connection is 2 hops away:

Hop #1: Your router or firewallHop #2: Your ISP

This is the case for most residential Internet connections but may differ if your network is more complex (e.g. you do double-NAT or have more than one router).

Local network / WiFi connection

This option monitors your connection to the local network (usually Ethernet or WiFi). PeakHour assumes your local network is one hop away, or the next hop. This option is useful if you have a spotty or weak WiFi connection, and may help you optimize the placement of your access point(s).

A specific hostname / IP address

If you'd like to monitor a specific site or web site address, choose this option and enter the hostname or IP address to monitor. Note that for this to work, the host must allow ICMP (Ping) packets. Many sites block these however, so make sure you test it before hand. You can do this by typing ping hostname in Terminal.

The host x hops away

Finally, you can choose a custom number of hops to monitor. Typically you'd use this option to monitor your Internet, but your network is more complex and the other side of your Internet connection is more than the default (2) hops away.

To monitor a specific site, host or IP address, that site must allow ICMP (or 'ping') packets to reach it. If the site blocks ping, you will not be able to monitor it. To test the site first, type ping hostname in Terminal.